400 Gallon Starfire Build - Mixed Reef

AJsTank

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Been in the hobby since 2000. I've had nanos and a 120 mixed reef. This is going to be a mixed reef build focusing on mainly SPS and some LPS. I really like the look of a white sand bed. I will have sand sifters and some Gobies to help keep it clean. This build I am going to stay away from crabs and snails because I'm sick of picking them out of the sand and focus on filtration to keep everything under control. Sand bed will be about 2 inches deep and I'm going do it like I did my other tank and just stir it up on a weekly basis so it stays White. If anyone here has constructive criticism or any suggestions, hit me up. I want to hear it. I've been in this hobby for a long time, but I've never actually never done a build job myself. I've looked at 100's of systems and have watched 1,000's of youtube videos of your tanks and I think I know what I'm doing. I'm sure I will run into some bumps, but I have lots of help here locally if I need it. Anyway, thanks for following and enjoy.

My goal is to have the tank on the stand tonight. Start purchasing plumbing parts this weekend. Get it all plumbed within 2 weeks and put water in it shorty after. I will do a 3-4 week cycle and I'm hoping with a few scoops of my old sand and live rock it will speed the cycle up a little bit.

Leemar 96 X 30 X 32 - Starphire - 399 gallons (Yes, I'm rounding to 400. haha) - My original build was only going to be 24 tall, but after seeing B. Syphus's tank in Utah at 36 tall, I didn't care how hard it was to reach the bottom and work. I wanted that awesome view. I got a quote from Leemar on 36 tall and they had to go 3/4 inch glass with the quote. The price was outrageous. They told me that 3/4 will double the price of pretty much any custom tank build they do that large. So I asked them how tall I could go with 5/8 so I could keep the cost down a little bit and they told me 32 was the max. So that's how I ended up with that odd height.

My stand was done by Richins Carpentry in Bountiful, Utah and I absolutely love it. They exceeded my expectations, it was done on a timely manor and the quality is fantastic. I had them seal in the bottom of the stand with silicone as well.

Custom Sump - Tyler from Elite Aquatics is building a custom sump for me. 60 long and 17 inches wide with about a 9 inch water level. This was the biggest I could go because of the small space I have sliding it through the doors. I will have a chamber for my drains, then filter socks with emergency over flow, a place for my skimmer, refugium, bubble trap and then return. This sump will have lids and a place for my 1/4 inch tubing from my dosser and probes. Sump will be done the end of next week and I will post pictures then.

Skimmer - Reef Octopus DC 250 INT - It's rated for up to 500 gallons, so I should be okay for a couple of years until it gets fully stocked and then I will upgrade if I have to.

Lighting - 4- Ecotech Radion Pros - I've always been a metal hallide/T5 guy, but since this is a new build, I wanted to try LED. Doing lots of research on LED's I decided to go with the Radion Pros.

Reactors - I picked up a Vertex reactor and I'm going to try doing bio pellets this time. Why? I don't know. I just want to see how they work and again, this is a new build, so I wanted to try some new things I haven't tried before. If I'm unhappy, I will go back to GFO/Carbon and a Korallin biodenitrator set up I had before.

Return Pump - I picked up 2 Reef Octopus DCS 10500 return pumps. My original thought was to run both of them at the same time and turn the variable speed down to about 50%. After speaking to a handful of people on various forums and groups, I decided to just go with 1 return pump and keep 1 for back up.

Plumbing - Schedule 80 - I just like the way it looks, so I'm going with it. :bigsmile: I'm doing durso drains in the over flows and keeping them high with 1 emergency drain in each over flow. I have not decided if I'm going to come up through the over flows for my returns and out the boxes or just come up behind the tank. I have to leave it off the wall a good 5 inches anyway because of the Vortech's on the back wall I'm placing.

Dosing - I'm going with the Vertex Libra. Elite Aquatics is making me a box with 3 chambers in it. Each chamber will have 2.5 gallons of space. Tyler is going to build a custom shelf that sits on top of the box for my Libra to sit on top of. I will then take the 1/4 inch tubing from the Libra directly into the chambers and then into the sump.

Flow - I'm putting 3 MP40 Vortech's on the back wall in each space and then putting an MP60 on each end of the tank.

Controller - Neptune - I will do the typical PH, ORP and Temp probes and will be adding one for salinity as well. I'm adding an extra 8 bar, WXM module for my Ecotech products and a Leak detection module with 4 probes. 2 for the carpet and 2 for the cabinet.

Live Sand - I will be adding about 200 lbs of the special grade arag alive sand for about a 2 inch sand bed.

Live Rock - I really wanted to try Ceramic rock this time, but some of you kind of talked me out of it. So I have about 300 lbs of live rock from my 120 I'm going to use and I'm currently hunting for another 150 lbs of the larger rock. Most of the stuff I have now is the typical 3-5 lb rock.

UV - Turbo Twist 36 watt - I have not bought this yet, so if anyone has another suggestion, please chime in.

Ozone - I'm not sure yet, any suggestions would be appreciated.



This tank will be placed in my front room. You will be able to see it from the street when you drive into my circle. Everyone at night time in my neighborhood would stand in the street staring at my 120 because of how awesome it looked with that glow. Wait until they see this thing :bigsmile::bigsmile:


Here is a shot of my tank about a day before I sold it.



I sold the furniture, changed out the carpet and repainted the room. Here is an old shot of the room.




My wife is going to kill me because I've made a complete disaster in our house trying to do this. This is a shot of 1 of the bins I'm using to keep my rock alive. I have sand and a couple small fish in the bins. And this is in our laundry room right now. But it's all for the cause, right?



Here is a shot of the final job with the stand and canopy in place. I know! The room is too small for that chair, so I'm getting rid of it.




Here is a shot of the stand when it showed up in my garage.




Originally, I was not going to do crown molding and then my buddy who is helping me do the tank said. "Well where are you going to put your beer?". I immediately called the cabinet guy and had him add this lip and crown molding.




The tank showed up last night. Here are some shots.







 
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AJsTank

AJsTank

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One thing I did not mention and I think I will try is Miracle Mud in the Refugium. I've read a lot about it and I'm going to try it.
 

ShippD

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Wow this is gonna be a great build i am gonna have to follow along for this one..
 

gunguy05

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Wow! Since I will never see the room to build one of my own this size, it will be nice to watch yours :bigsmile:

Tagging along, looks like a great build!
 
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AJsTank

AJsTank

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I was hoping to get the tank on the stand this evening, but I had to do some major cutting. I decided to also add a foam 1/2 inch foam pad to the top of the stand as well. Tomorrow morning, 10 guys... Wish me luck





Ready to go for in the morning!

 
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AJsTank

AJsTank

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One thing I left out was a heater. What are you guys using these days? I just did a little Google search and there are SO many options.
 
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AJsTank

AJsTank

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I'm having seconds thoughts on using a UV on this reef. I've always used one before, but I read a few articles last night that said don't do it because it kills more of the good than bad... Thoughts?
 

james30ct

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I thought you werent supposed to use foam under a rimless tank? I might be wrong but I think I remember reading someones tank failing from doing so.
 
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AJsTank

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I thought you werent supposed to use foam under a rimless tank? I might be wrong but I think I remember reading someones tank failing from doing so.

I was told by several people that have done large tanks that they did it in case there was any imperfections in the stand. If you could send me a link to about what you are talking about, I'd love to see it.
 
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AJsTank

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I thought you werent supposed to use foam under a rimless tank? I might be wrong but I think I remember reading someones tank failing from doing so.

I just found a few other threads and apparently you don't use foam with a tank that has the plastic trim piece on the bottom because the foam could potentially go up under and put pressure on the bottom of the tank. My bottom is completely flat.
 
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AJsTank

AJsTank

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Put the canopy on the top this morning and made sure it fit.




We tried to lift it up onto the stand with 8 of us and could not physically do it. Part of our problem was the amount of space we had to work with on the ends of the tank. Also, no one could get behind and hold onto the back panel. I ended up calling 4 more neighbors and we had for people under the tank (that's really bad, I know), 4 on the ends and 4 holding onto the front panel with suction cups. But we got it.




And... I am off and finally running now!



 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

  • Ball valves.

    Votes: 42 49.4%
  • Gate valves.

    Votes: 44 51.8%
  • Check valves.

    Votes: 19 22.4%
  • None.

    Votes: 22 25.9%
  • Other.

    Votes: 9 10.6%
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